Tom Brown at Rugby. Thomas Smart Hughes
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undermining those of an enemy; here, engaged in surveying.
[47] Ordnance Map: an official or government map.
[48] Balak: see Numbers xxii.
[49] Alfred: Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, 871. He defeated the Danes, who had overrun most of England, at Ashdown, and compelled them to make a treaty of peace. He is justly considered one of the noblest and wisest of the English sovereigns; and the thousandth anniversary of his birth was celebrated in 1849, at Wantage, Berks.
[50] Asser: a contemporary of Alfred; he wrote his life.
[51] Saxons: a name given to certain German tribes who conquered Britain, in the fifth century. The name England came from the Angles, a people of the same stock, who settled in the east and north of the island. From these Anglo-Saxons the English have in great part descended.
[52] Alma: a river in the Crimea where a desperate battle was fought between the Russians and the allied English and French in 1854.
[53] Chronicler: Asser, from whom this is quoted.
[54] St. George: the patron saint of England.
[55] More by token: as a sign or proof that this is so.
[56] Privet: a shrub much used for hedges.
[57] Keeper: the gamekeeper, a man kept on great estates to look after the game.
[58] Cromlech: a rude tomb built by the first inhabitants of Britain.
[59] Wayland Smith's Cave: a "supernatural smith" who shod horses on payment of sixpence.
[60] Sir Walter: Sir Walter Scott.
[61] Inigo Jones: a celebrated architect of the 17th century.
[62] Lord Craven: the owner of the estate on which the "White Horse" is located.
[63] Sheep-walks: sheep pastures, for which the "downs" are much used.
[64] Barrows: ancient burial mounds.
[65] Public: a public house.
[66] Toby Philpot jug: a large brown pitcher, shaped like a jolly old gentleman of the olden time.
[67] Antediluvian: before the deluge.
[68] Un: it; also him or her.
[69] Grewsome: frightful.
[70] Um: they.
[71] Fiery cross: a cross, the ends of which had been fired and then extinguished in blood. It was sent round by the chiefs of clans in time of war, to summon their followers.
[72] Plantations: groves of trees set out in regular order.
[73] Squire: a country gentleman.
[74] 'E: thee or you.
[75] Malignant: The Parliamentary or Puritan party during the civil wars of Charles I. called those who adhered to the king "malignants."
[76] Tighe: this legend relates a conspiracy by which young Tighe was led into the thick of a fight and killed.
[77] Pusey horn: the Pusey family hold their estate not by a title deed, but by a horn, given, it is said, to William Pecote (perhaps an ancestor of the Puseys) by Canute, a Danish king of England in the eleventh century. The horn bears the following inscription: "I, King Canute, give William Pecote this horn to hold by thy land."
[78] Freeholders: landowners.
[79] Moated grange: a farm or estate surrounded by a broad deep ditch for defence in old times.
[80] Marianas: Mariana, a beautiful woman, one of the most lovable of Shakespeare's characters. See "Measure for Measure."
[81] West-countryman: a west of England man.
[82] Angular Saxon: a play on the words Anglo-Saxon.
[83] Adscriptus glebæ: attached to the soil.
[84] Chaw: "chaw bacon," a nickname for an English peasant.
[85] Vools: fools.
[86] Whum: home.